Toy airplane



Nov. 28, 1961 Filed June 29, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 'l INKEN TOR. CLYDE E. HUSTON JR Zia ATTORNEYS C. E. HUSTON, JR

Nov. 28, 1961 TOY AIRPLANE 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 29, 1959 FIG. 2

INVENTOR CLYDE E. HUSTON JR ATTORNEYS Nov. 28, 1961 c. E. HUSTON, JR I 3,010,250

TOY AIRPLANE Filed June 29, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. CLYDE E. HUSTON JR FIG. 4A

ATTORNEYS Nov. 28, 1961 c. E. HUSTON, JR 3,010,250

TOY AIRPLANE Filed June 29, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet. 4

ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,010,250 TOY AIRPLANE Clyde E. Huston, Jr., 2691 Thorndale Ave., Columbus,

Ohio, assignor of twenty-five percent each to Bruce A.

Lehner, Anthony J. Scudere and John G. Markos, all

of Columbus, Ohio Filed June 29, 1959, Ser. No. 823,402 4 Claims. (Cl. 46-79) This invention relates to toy airplanes and particularly to a novel glider type of plane that performs various stunts and maneuvers.

In general, the toy plane of the present invention comprises a trough-shaped body means formed by upwardly and outwardly extending side walls and swept-back wing sections that extend outwardly from the upper edges of said side walls. The plane further includes fin means preferably formed by a pair of fin sections that extend upwardly and inwardly from the side wall sections and which are joined at an apex to form a tunnel section on the rear of the body means.

It is an essential part of the invention that the wing sections extend outwardly in a horizontal plane or preferably outwardly in a plane inclined downwardly, relative to the horizontal so that the toy craft will maintain an attitude in which it is launched in order to perform maneuvers later to be described herein. It has been found that the wings of the craft cannot be extended upwardly and outwardly, with a conventional dihedral angle, because the plane will not maintain a banked attitude after launching and hence will not perform the maneuvers described later herein. I As another necessary aspect of the toy plane of the present invention, the trough formed by the body side sections must be either of constant depth or must become progressively deeper proceeding longitudinally rearwardly along the body means.

As another aspect of the present invention, in instances where the toy plane is to be flown indoors and hence in a confined space, or when it is desired to slow up the flight of the plane, the outer tips of the wing sections are provided with speed brakes in the form of vertically disposed rearwardly converging wing tip sections.

As another aspect of the invention, where the plane is to be flown in a confined space or slow speed flight is desired, the plane can be provided with a nose speed brake.

As another aspect of the present invention, the plane of the type described can be formed by cutting and bending a single sheet of material of uniform thickness and by applying weight means to the forward portion of said sheet to form a weighted nose portion for the plane. As still another aspect of the present invention, the plane of the type described can be formed by cutting and bending a single sheet of material of uniform thickness and by applying a second sheet of the same material to the forward portion of said first sheet to provide a weighted and reinforced nose portion in a simple and economical manner.

In accordance with the present invention, it has been discovered that a toy plane, of the type described, is characterized by the unique and entertaining characteristic of maintaining in flight, the precise banked attitude in which it is launched whereby the plane will gracefully and accurately return to the launcher.

The toy plane of the present invention is further characterized by the inherent ability to depart in a straight line from the launcher, perform a 180 degree hairpin turn and return to the hands of the launcher.

The toy plane of the present invention includes another interesting inherent characteristic in that it will,

when properly launched, dive, loop, release a toy bomb,

and thence depart from the bombing location in a normal flight attitude.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings wherein preferred forms of embodiments of the invention are clearly shown.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a toy plane constructed according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the toy plane of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of the plane of the preceding figures;

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the shape of a fiat sheet of material suitable for forming a plane in accordance with one aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 4-A is a partial side elevational view of the sheet of material of FIG. 4 together with a second sheet of material attached thereto for providing nose weight for the plane of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a front elevational view of a modified toy plane constructed according to the present invention and comprising a modification of the plane of the preceding figures; and

FIGS. 6 through 8 diagrammatically illustrate various maneuvers that can be accurately and consistently performed with the plane of the present invention.

Referring in detail to the drawings, a plane constructed in accordance with the present invention is illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 3 and includes a body means indicated generally at 20 formed by upwardly and outwardly extending side wall sections 21 and 22, the latter forming a trough 23 preferably, but not necessarily, of V-shaped cross section forming a downwardly facing apex along a fold line 24.

In accordance with the present invention, it has been found that trough 23 must either be of constant depth throughout its longitudinal extent or in the preferred embodiment it is formed so as to have a progressively greater depth proceeding rearwardly, i.e. as viewed in FIG. 1, the rear depth dimension 25 must be at least equal to but preferably greater than the forward depth dimension 26. This provides two forwardly converging lift surfaces along the bottom of body means 20 which lift surfaces are seen at 21 and 22 in FIG. 3 and at 21-A and 22-A in FIG. 5.

The plane further comprises delta type wing means that includes a right wing section 28 joined to right side wall section 21 at a right wing line 29 and a left wing section 30 joined to left side wall section 22 at a right fold line 31.

With continued reference to FIGS. 1 through 3, the toy plane further includes a fin means indicated generally at 33. In the preferred form illustrated, the fin means consist of a right fin section 35 joined to right wing section 28 at a right fin fold line 36 and a left fin section 37 joined to left wing section 30 at a left fin fold line 38. Fin sections 35 and 37 are preferably, but not necessarily, joined at a central fold line 39 which forms an apex of an inverted triangle in instances where fin sections 35 and 37 are formed in flat configuration.

It will be understood that fin sections 35 and 37 can be severed at fold line 39 and disposed in various vertically extending configurations so as to provide the necessary lateral area on the rear of the body means 20, without departing from the spirit of the present invention. As another variation the plane will also perform satisfactorily with a single vertical fin integral with the body means by bending or which can be formed of a separate sheet and attached to the body means.

The toy plane of the present invention is preferably provided with a right wing speed brake section 41 joined to wing section 28 along a right brake section fold line 42 and a left wing speed brake section 43 joined to Wing section 30 along a left wing brake fold line 44.

As best seen in FIGS. 2 and 3, wing speed brake fold lines 41 and 44 preferably converge inwardly rearwardly whereby the brake sections 42 and 43 create substantially more drag than would be the case if the fold lines 41 and 44 were parallel with longitudinally aligned central fold line 24. As an alternative, the speed brake fold lines 41 and 44 can be formed to converge outwardly rearwardly' or can be disposed parallel with central fold line 24. a

As viewed in FIG. 2, the preferred rearwardly converging disposition of wing speed brakes 42 and 43 is represented by the angle 47.

As another essential characteristic of the toy plane of the present invention the leading edges 48 and 49 of the wing sections must be swept back as is indicated by sweepback angle 50, it being understood that the sweep-back angle can be varied substantially without materially influencing the performance of the craft.

FIG. 5 illustrates a modification'of the toy plane of the present invention which is particularly adaptable for indoor flying Where the available space is limited. Here the plane includes the same component sections previously described except that it includes, in addition, a modified body means 20A. This modified body section includes a right side wall 21-A provided with an upwardly and inwardly extending right nose brake section 54 joined to a right side wall section 21-A at a right nose brake fold line 55 and a left nose brake section 56 joined to a left side -wall section 22A at a left nose brake fold line 57. The upper ends of nose brake sections 54 and 56 are joined at an apex formed by a fold line 58 and form a nose tunnel section 60. It has been found, in accordance with the present invention, that the channeling of a portion of a relative Wind through nose channel section 60 adds materially to the drag and hence slows down'the speed of flight, without detracting from the performance characteristics of the craft.

Reference is next made to FIG. 4 which illustrates, in flat plan form, a single sheet of material from which all of the previously described component sections can be formed by cutting and bending.

It will be noted that the trough shaped body means 20 can be formed by bending side Wall sections 21 and 22 upwardly along longitudinal fold line 24 and by then bending wing sections 28 and 29 downwardly along wing fold lines 29 and 31. V

With continued reference to 'FIG. 4, the leading edges of fin sections 35 and 37 are formed by making a cut 64 that extends between wing fold lines 29 and 31. The

fin sections are then bent upwardly along fin section fold lines 36 and 38. When the bases of fin sections 35 and 37 are bent upwardly an apex is formed at the tops thereof along fold line 39.

With continued reference to FIG. 4, wing speed brake sections 42 and 43 are next formed by bending the outer tips of the wing sections downwardly along the speed brake fold lines 41 and 44. Y

-'If desired, whenthe plane is to be'fiown indoors in a confined space, a nose. speed brake can be provided'by cutting side wall sections 21 and 22'along the dotted line 66 and by bending the nose speed brake sections 54 and 56 upwardly about nose brake fold lines 55 and 57, the

wing

upper ends of said nose brake sections being joined at a fold line 53 "to the nose'tunnel section illustrated in 1 FIG. 5. e

v In. accordmce with the present invention, it has been I discovered that in instances where the previously described sections are formed from a sheet of material of uniform thickness itis necessary to add weight to the nose portion of the plane which Weight'may'be'in the form. of a longitudinally extending metallic strip 68. It has 'been discovered thatthe performance of the plane finger but this time the plane is held in a'nose-down is materially enhanced if weight 68 is uniformly distributed along substantially the front third of the length of the aircraft as illustrated in FIG. 1.

As an alternate method of providing nose weight for the craft, where the previously described component sections are formed from a single sheet of material of uniform thickness, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the weight can be evently distributed over the entire front third of the sheet of FIG. 4 and the main sheet of material indicated generally at 70 can at the same time be strengthened by lap joining a single sheet of material 71 to the main sheet 70. In instances where front weight sheet 71 is of the same material as main sheet 70, and covers approximately a third of the area of main sheet 70 it has been found that nose weight sheet 71 should be of substantially twice the thickness as main sheet 70. With this arrangement, the center of gravity of the craft will be located at a distance rearwardly from the nose of the craft equal to 30 or 40 percent of its length. Such suitable location for the center of gravity is indicated at CG in FIG. 4.

In constructing planes for outdoor flight where ample space is available, it is preferably to form main sheet 70 and nose weight sheet 71 of thin plastic sheet material of uniform thickness. In this type of construction sheet 70 and 71 can be accurately and inexpensively formed by die cutting same from flat plastic sheet material. Sheet 70 and 71 can be thermally fused together and the finished plane configuration of FIGS. 1 through 3 can be permanently imposed on the blank plastic sheet 70 and 71 by placing same in a suitable heated die wherein the previously described fold lines are permanently formed by the application of heat and pressure.

Reference is next made to FIG. 6 which illustrates one maneuver that can be easily performed by the toy plane of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic top view of a launchers hand and a banked circle maneuver. The front of the body means of the plane is gripped between the thumb and first finger of the right hand with the thumb pointing down and with the wings of the plane being banked to an almost vertical position. Starting with the right hand adjacent the left shoulder, the right hand and plane are snapped across the chest, to the right, and the plane is released in the almost vertical position. Due to the novel structural configuration of the plane it will 'hold its banked attitude throughout the circle and return as illustrated in dotted delineation in FIG. 6.

The maneuver of FIG. 6 can also be performed by holding the plane with the wings banked at a lesser angle. The plane will then level out after it has completed about 270 degrees of its circular path' and return to the launchers hand with the wings level.

FIG. 7 is a side diagrammatic view of a launchers hand and hair pin turn maneuver that can be performed by the toy plane of the present invention. The forward part of the body means is gripped between the thumb and first finger and the hand and plane are raised and then snapped downwardly with the wings in 'arlevel attitude. The plane should be launched into the wind ifflown out-- doors when a substantial wind is blowing. If flown in a gentle breeze the plane can be launched downwind or in any desired direction. It will depart from the launcher and maintain its attitude for a period of time, will then negotiate the hair pin turn illustrated at the right side of FIG. 7 and then will return straight back to the launcher.

The loop and bomb drop maneuver diagrammatically illustrated in FIG. '8, is accomplished by placing small toy bomb, cigarette, or other light object, in the trough of the body means. The'front ofthe body means of the plane is then gripped between the thumb ,and the first attitude. The hand is then raised and snapped smartly downwardly and the plane will inherently perform the maneuver. The loop and bomb drop maneuver will dis- :charge, the side view of which is'seen in FIG. 8. With a little practice the launcher can become quite accurate in dropping the bomb on a target placed on the floor or ground.

While the forms of embodiments of the present invention as herein disclosed constitute preferred forms, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow:

I claim:

1. A model airplane comprising, in combination, delta type wing means including right and left wing sections each of which extends outwardly and downwardly from a horizontally extending wing line; a generally troughshaped body means centrally of said wing means, the bottom of said trough being angularly disposed relative to said wing line, said trough being progressively deeper in a rearwardly direction; and fin means projecting upwardly and forwardly from one of said first and second mentioned means.

2. A model airplane comprising, in combination, delta type wing means including right and left wing sections each of which extends outwardly and downwardly from a horizontally extending wing line; a generally troughshaped body means centrally of said wing means, said trough being progressively wider in a real-wardly direction whereby the sides of said trough cant inwardly; and fin means projecting upwardly and forwardly from one of said first and second mentioned means.

3. A model airplane comprising, in combination, delta type wing means including right and left wing sections each of which extends outwardly and downwardly from a horizontally extending wing line; a generally troughshaped body means centrally of said wing means, the bottom of said trough being angularly disposed relative to said wing line, said trough being progressively deeper in a rearwardly direction; and fin means including fin portions that project upwardly from one of said first and second mentioned means, said fin portions be ng canted forwardly relative to the longitudinal axis of the body means.

4. A model airplane comprising, in combination, delta type wing means including right and left wing sections each of which extends outwardly and downwardly from a horizontally extending wing line; a generally troughshaped body means centrally of said wing means, said trough being progressively wider in a rearwardly direction whereby the sides of said trough cant inwardly; and fin means including fin portions that project upwardly from one of said first and second mentioned means, said fin portions being canted forwardly relative to the longitudinal axis of the body means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,421,631 Watts July 4, 1922 2,396,312 Blandford Mar. 12, 1946 2,410,627 Brand Nov. 5, 1946 2,432,297 Dowd Dec. 9, 1947 

